The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1887-10-14
THE SHOES OF BREAD.

II. -
Listen to this story that ,he grand.
mothers of Germany tell to their grand.
children; Germany, "A beautiful country
Of legends and of rcveries. where the
moonlight, playing on the mists Of old
Rhine, creates IA thousand fantastic sis-
ions. r----.--. a~v- ~
A poor woman lived alone at the far
end of the village in humble little
house; thedweiling was miserable enough
and contained only the most necessary
furniture. An old bed with wreati,ed
columns, from which hung curtains of
yellowed serge, "a kneading trough put
the bread in, walnut chest shining with
cleanness, but whose nunberless worm
holes, filled up with wax, showed long
service: stuffed arm chair, faded and
worn by the shaking head of the
grandam, a wheel polished smooth by
much using; that WAS all.
We were going Ia forget chld's
cradle. quite new, o! SO softly lined, and
folded down with pretty lowered
coverlid worked by loving needle that
Of mother decorating the manager Of
her little Jesus q IA. $50 ~ ~
All the riches of the poor house were
conferred there. The child of burgo-
master or of an Aulic councillor would
not have been more tenderly Graded
Holy prodigality! Sweet folly of the
mother, who denies herself everything 10
make . little luxury, in the midst Of her
want, for her dear pursling. sE
This cradle gave holiday air to the
pnched and small and dirty lodging, and
nature, ever COMPASSIONATE to those who
are unfortunate, frightened its baroness
with tufts of house leek and with velvety
moses. While seeming to he but para
sites these good, pitiful plants purposely
grew in the holes in the roof, filling them
up and transforming them into resplen.
dent hanging baskets which also served
10 keep the rain from falling on the
cradle; even the pigeons fattened them
selves against the windows and cooed
until the child fell asleep.
A tiny bird, whom little Ham, had fed
with bread crumbs in the winter when
the snow whitened the ground, now, in
the spring, let fall grain from his beak
at the foot Of the wall, and from il had
sprung a beautiful brier weed vine
which, fastening itself to the stones with
ita green claws, had entered the room
through broken pane, and crowned the
child's cradle with its garlands, so that
In the morning the blue eyes of little
Ham, and the blue bells of the vine
awoke at the same time and looked in.
diligently at each other.
The dwelling was, then, poor, but not
gloomy. The mother Of Hanz, whose
husband had died far away in the wars,
lived rs best she could upon the few
that her garden yielded, and
upon what little she made from spinning;
very little indeed, but Hanz wanted for
that was enough.
Certainly she was pious and believing
woman, this mother Hanz. She said
her prayers, worked and was virtuous;
but she committed one sin; she took too
much pride in her son. 1t happens some
times that mothers, seeing theiy beauti-
full, rosy babies with their tiny, dimpled
hands, and their white skin and their
pretty pink nails; ima zine that they arc
theirs forever; but G i gives nothing, he
lends only; and like forgotten creditor
NC coshes coihetAhie" ouuuehiy w Cid'h
bis due.
Because this fresh bud had been
grated from her stem, the mother of
IIanz thought she had caused it to be
born; and God-who from the depth Of
bis blue vaulted paradise that is studded
with golden stars observes all that hap
pens on earth, and hears from the end Of
nfinity the noise that "a blade of grass
makes in growing saw not this with
pleasure. "a He
He saw, too. that Hanz was greedy
md that his mother was too indulgent
with him in this evil habit; often, this
child would cry when, after
eating grapes and apples, he would have
10 finish his bread, that so many poor
people are in need of, and his mother
would let him throw away the piece he
had bitten into, or would finish it herself.
Now it happened that Hanz fell ILL;
fever burned him, his throat was choked,
and his breath came heavily with rat
Ting sound; he has the Group, terrible
disease that has made the eyes Of many
mothers and of many fathers red with
weeping. ag
The poor woman at this sight felt
horrible pain at her heart.
Without doubt you have seen in some
church the image of Our Lady clothed in
and standing beneath the cross,
with her breast torn open showing the
bleeding heart in.which are plunged seven
silver blades-three ON one side and four
ON the other. The meaning of this is that
there is no more frightful agony than that
of q mother who sees her child die; and
this although the Holy Virgin believed in
the divinity Of Jesus and knew that her
Son would rise again.
Now the mother Of Hanz had no such
hope. During the last days Of his illness,
while she watched him, the mother me-
continued spinning, and the
hum of her wheel mingled with the
child's labored breathing. t'-
If there are those-rich- who think II
strange that a mother should spin beside
the dying bed of her child, II is that they
do not know what torture poverty holds
in It's grasp for the soul. Alasi il doesn't
alone destroy the body, it brealis the
heart also.
What aho xvas sv,innino TINS W M the